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Business
How to Plan for the Death of a Business Owner
January 17, 2018 • John Di Giacomo
The combination of a busy travel schedule and the death of my mother has kept me from writing this column. But these have also given me time to reflect on my own preparedness for life's unforeseen events. With this post, my hope is that others can learn from my reflection and better protect their businesses and families.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Legal: Protect Against Counterfeit Goods with Amazon Brand Gating
September 6, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
There is no question that service providers like Amazon must constantly be on guard against nefarious third party sellers who might use their service for unlawful means. In order to ...
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Business
Legal: Removing Bad Reviews Not So Easy
August 3, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
I recently had a terrible customer service experience when purchasing from a well-known ecommerce company. The experience was so bad that it compelled me to write not just one poor ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Why Use Amazon’s Brand Registry?
June 29, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
Protecting against knockoffs on Amazon can be a problem for ecommerce merchants. Thankfully, Amazon recently instituted its Brand Registry program, which is intended to protect the brands of marketplace sellers ...
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Business
Applying the Uniform Commercial Code to Ecommerce
May 19, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
Consumers and ecommerce merchants often take the complexity involved in buying a product online for granted. But behind the ease of the one-click checkout and free shipping is 65 years of ...
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Business
Will New F.C.C. Policies Impact Ecommerce Merchants?
April 21, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
Big changes are coming to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and some may have ramifications for ecommerce merchants. With the appointment of Ajit Pai as the chairman of the F.C.C.,
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Business
Legal Issues for Membership-based Ecommerce Sites
March 17, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
Membership-based ecommerce websites — those that offer products, services, or additional benefits to members — have their own set of complex legal issues that do not apply to traditional online retailers.
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Business
E.U.’s New Data Protection Law Affects Companies Worldwide
March 8, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
You should read this article. You should take it seriously. I’ll admit it — we lawyers are risk averse. We tend to prepare clients for the terrors in the night ...
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Business
Legal: Protecting Against Idea Misappropriation Claims
January 17, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
Ideas are cheap. But ideas can also help an ecommerce company improve its products and services. Often a merchant’s customers or partners are in the best position to provide such ...
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Business
End-of-year Legal Checkup, for Ecommerce
December 21, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
It is that time of year — an opportunity to spend time with family, reflect on the successes and failures, and make plans for 2017. It is also time to ...
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Business
How to Respond to a Breach of Customer Data
November 22, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
Data breaches seem to be the norm these days, whether they are at Yahoo, Home Depot, or, more recently, Michigan State University. And ecommerce merchants are not immune. My firm ...
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Email Marketing
Understanding Email Anti-spam Laws in U.S., Canada, E.U.
October 18, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
Most ecommerce merchants understand the value of keeping a list of customers’ email addresses. By keeping such a list, merchants can send targeted, relevant offers to their clients, which can increase revenue and,
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Amazon & Marketplaces
The Anatomy of an Amazon Legal Dispute
September 21, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
I represent a number of sellers who utilize Amazon’s various services to increase their ecommerce sales. Though I often advise clients against relying on Amazon as their sole source of fulfillment or ...
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Business
How to Protect against Scraping of Prices, SKUs
August 15, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
Many ecommerce merchants offer a substantial number of SKUs through their stores. Inputting those SKUs into a database can be a time and labor intensive process. It can also be ...
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Business
Understanding the New E.U. Privacy Shield, for Ecommerce
July 18, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
In “Electronically-signed Contracts Enforceable?,” I addressed the implementation of new e-signature requirements in Europe. Those requirements are part of wide-ranging changes in E.U. law. The newest, and perhaps most important,
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Business
Legal: How to Sell (or Buy) an Ecommerce Business
June 17, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
For many ecommerce storeowners, the purpose of building their business is to eventually sell it. Other times, after creating a successful ecommerce venture, an entrepreneur may decide to move on to ...
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Business
Avoiding Copyright Infringement in Product Photos
May 17, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
In the last few years, my law firm has handled a growing number of copyright infringement matters, including litigation, involving product photography. With increasing numbers of SKUs in ecommerce stores, the ...
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Business
Electronically-signed Contracts Enforceable?
April 15, 2016 • John Di Giacomo
When Shakespeare wrote “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” he was not writing about electronic signatures. But, thankfully, the law has mostly evolved to no longer ...